Banksy (A Form of Graffiti in Itself)- Mya Marshall
Banksy is a notorious British graffiti artist who paints scenes into the public world. Although his work is categorized as graffiti, it greatly strays from the stereotypical form of it, with his works depicting elaborate situations and images. Bansky uses public space, such as walls and sidewalks, to create his pieces. He integrates surrounding objects into what he creates and plays off of location. In the following picture, Bansky has painted a girl blowing bubbles. 
She appears to be sitting, not on something within the work of graffiti, but on the pipe that runs across the wall.
A lot of Banksy’s work stirs controversy. He depicts things you wouldn’t generally see, or basic everyday things with a twist. The following photograph is of Banksy’s work depicting a Buckingham Palace guard. peeing on a wall. 
Palace guards are famed for their lack of movement. Banksy places this guard on the wall, not just moving, but peeing in public, a private moment that no one but the guard and his toilet would take part in.
The next work is of the moment after an affair has been discovered. 
There is a naked man hanging out of the window, while a man in the window searches for him, standing in front of his lingerie-clad wife. An affair, that was to be kept private from even the woman’s own husband, has now been exposed to the world. This is a very private moment placed on the side of a building.
The following photograph reminds me somewhat of the one that Professor Weinroth posted. It seems that either war or some horrific natural disaster has struck the hometown of the little girl in the scene. 
She is sad, crying, clutching her teddy bear. She is dirty and her clothes are tattered. She seems to have been hurt, since there is blood running down her face. She is lost, standing in the rubble of what was once her home, not knowing what to do alone without adults. She is in the foreground, while “Western” reporters photograph and film her her in the background. They are concerned about capturing the moment, not concerned of the girl herself, stopping medical workers from approaching her. Looking at this piece evokes a great deal of emotion. I feel sympathetic for the girl and so angry that these people are just exploiting this young girl’s moment of extreme grief, despair, and helplessness.
Statue of Liberty by Jin Woo Chung
An artwork associated with the United States on the same degree as the Stars and Stripes, the Statue of Liberty is the most well known piece of American public art. It is a statue of a 305 foot tall woman who is wearing a Roman style tunic and dons a crown with seven spikes, each representing the seven continents of the globe. Standing on a 89 foot high pedestal, she has in her right hand a torch held up high, as it symbolizes the inextinguishable light of knowledge. In her left hand she holds a book that has the date of the Declaration of Independence inscribed on it; this can be interpreted to be justice and law as it is engraved in stone (similar to the Ten Commandments). Meanwhile at her feet lie unused chains, symbolizing the abolishment of slavery. Despite all these positive meanings of the statue, many question the reasons as to why the French gave her to us. Many say it is showing the strong democratic ties France had with America or maybe it was an effort stimulate trade between the two nations; but others have said it could very well be that France was flexing its technological and artistic achievements to the United States.
Regardless the statue is a sight to behold for both its aesthetic and symbolic characteristics; also it brings New York City a good flow of tourism!
Sources:
Photo and info from http://www.blueofthesky.com/publicart/works/statueofliberty.htm
and more info from http://www.StatueOfLiberty.info/pages/statuegb/liberty.htm
The Decisive Public Moment
The great photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson told the Washington Post in 1957 that “Photography is not like painting, there is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. That is the moment the photographer is creative,” he said. “Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”[1]
Stanley Forman captured such a moment with “The Soiling of Old Glory.” The moment was captured on April 5, 1976 amid the desegregation of the Boston Buses. The city was up in arms about the recent court ruling to allow blacks to sit with whites and in this picture Stanley Forman captures a black lawyer soon to be impaled on the American flag by a white teenager. The hatred is overwhelming, the symbolism of using the flag is almost too much as well, and the picture won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Spot Photography because of its power.
This is a privatization of a public moment. The Boston Bus Crisis was a very public event and this photograph is at one of the protests, thus it is a very public moment when a black lawyer representing not only blacks but blacks trying to live in a civilized America is being impaled by a young white man with none other than the flag of our country. It was an extremely troubled time in American History and it is easy to imagine that racism only existed in the South but this picture is a testament to just how widespread it was.
Stanley Forman privatized this moment by turning it into a Pulitzer winning piece of private art. When he realized what a picture he had, he published it in many newspapers. And this privatization of a public moment was made a little more public. Still, it is a moment so powerful that capturing it was little short of a service to society. Here, in this picture, is a manifestation of an age of race relations. And each character and prop are so powerful that one can just look at it and look at it and still not believe that this could really have happened. That a man would take the AMERICAN FLAG and stab another man with it, but that is the extent to which hatred affected the teenager. Thus this piece of art is a testament in many senses and that is only really possible because it captured a decisive public moment.
[1]: Bernstein, Adam. “The Acknowledged Master of the Moment”. Washington Post; August 5, 2004.
Joel Kaplan - Public/Private Art - Tilted Arc
Richard Serra’s controversial sculpture “Tilted Arc” (1980-81) consisted of a 120 foot long, 12 foot high curving wall of steel placed in the center of Federal Plaza, or Jacob Javits Plaza, in downtown Manhattan. The minimalist sculpture was defined by Serra and others as an analysis of space and movement that didn’t rely on representations of the human form.
“Bodies were still to be represented by sculpture, but bodies now, in their aspect as inhabited, the human body not as it is understood from without, but as it is lived from within. For if I extend my arm to reach to pick up something or to catch an object before it falls, I do not think of my hand, my arm, my shoulder; I think of the space that must be bridged between me and the object I am reaching for. These gestures and movements are thus more representable as vectors and trajectories through space than they are as bone and skin.” - Rosalind Krauss
The past tense is used because after a public hearing in which it was determined that the sculpture was visually unappealing and limited access to nearby buildings, the sculpture was dismantled and removed. “On March 15, 1989, during the night, federal workers cut Tilted Arc into three pieces, remove it from Federal Plaza, and cart it off to a scrap-metal yard.” (pbs.org) Visitors to the Federal Plaza today see a much different artistic installation:
The utility of the benches and open space and the relative aesthetic appeal of the greenery has made Federal Plaza a successful example of the effective use of public space. While the curved benches also imply and engender movement, the installation serves as an essentially functional spot for relaxing or eating lunch.
Serra’s “Tilted Arc” was an insightful sculpture that enabled viewers, or harried lawyers rushing to the adjacent courthouses, to experience movement, space, and the world uniquely. Today’s bright green circular benches accomodate the public in a much different way. The history of Jacob Javits Plaza therefore provides an interesting comment on the value of art in the public space and the questions of utility and function.
http://www.xcp.bfn.org/tiltedarc.jpg
http://www.pps.org/graphics/gpp/federal_plaza_nyc_large
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/flashpoints/visualarts/tiltedarc_a.html
In Defense of Humanism Richard A. Etlin
Public and private display of identity - Ilirjan G.
I’ve come to realize that public art and private art aren’t defined by the actual object, but rather by its surroundings. Just like Heather stated, we can’t think of the two as entirely separate because one can end up being the other. It’s a pretty simple idea, but I recently came to that conclusion. I’m sure I’m a bit late.
Anyway, our discussion on public versus private art has really got me thinking about the everyday objects I see in and around my house. It’s not really typical and doesn’t necessarily have to do with private moments but rather personal identities that are portrayed publicly and privately. It relates to my life and I think that makes it more important and interesting. So, there are two specific pieces of “art” inside and outside my house that give a similar message, but through different mediums. I put the word “art” in quotation marks because I never thought of it as art until now.
First, there is the massive Albanian flag sewed in with black and red beads hanging on my living room wall. This piece of art would be considered private because only people in my house would be able to see it. The point of this beaded flag is to show identity of a culture and also show pride in that particular culture. My mother, the “artist”, specifically chose to create something that would be visible only indoors.
On the other hand, there is a mini sculpture of the double-headed eagle in front of our house. This serves a similar purpose in that it also represents a culture and simultaneously a strong pride for that culture. However, there is a greater impact with this type of art because people walking down the street will recognize (presumably) the Albanian culture represented by the symbolic eagle. Here, there was an intentional choice to place the sculpture near the sidewalk where anyone walking along can see it.
All in all, I think it’s interesting to tie in what we’ve learned about private and public art to our personal lives and see first-hand how we can portray the same idea privately to ourselves and publicly to everyone around us.
Aliza Lieb- “The Kiss by the Hotel de Ville”
“The Kiss by the Hotel de Ville” by Robert Doisneau is one of my favorite photographs of all time. In fact, I have it hanging up on my bedroom wall. It was taken in Paris in 1950 for Life Magazine. This is not a real couple kissing but I thought that the moment was still beautifully captured on film. By looking at this photo, one would never know these people were merely actors. If this had been an actual man and woman in love, it would portrey a very private moment for all to see. Although there are swarms of people around, they are completely oblivious, or simply don’t care. It is an instant that was not meant for anyone else but them in very public art. It is as if someone just popped out of the bushes and captured this private moment in their relationship.
Michael Elka - Public Art, Private Moments: Chernobyl Memorial
Photograph:
Evstafiev. Evstafiev-Chernobyl Tragedy Monument. 13 Apr. 2006. Wikpedia Commons. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 13 Apr. 2006. 21 Sept. 2008 <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/evstafiev-chernobyl_tragedy_monument.jpg>.
Sculpture:
“Untitled,” 1993, by sculptor Andrei Kovaltchuk and architect Mikhail Korsi. Bronze, concrete, and granite. On permanent display at Mitino Cemetery, Moscow, Russia.
Mikhail Korsi’s sculpture “Untitled,” on public display in Mitino Cemetery, outside Moscow, is a memorial commemorating those who died in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. On April 26, 1986, reactor four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant overheated and exploded during an experiment, releasing large amounts of radiation. First responders, which included evacuators, firefighters, scientists, and everyday labors struggled to contain the disaster, which wreaked havoc on their health. Many people died from the effects of radiation, some quickly, some slowly; children today are being born horribly deformed as a result of the radiation, and such children will continue to be born deformed and helpless for centuries to come.
The piece is constructed of bronze, concrete, and granite, and was installed as a memorial in 1993. It features a bronze statue of a man being formed from ashes with his arms outstretched in a struggling manner, surrounded by a hollow, massive concrete mushroom cloud, symbolic of the dangers of nuclear energy. The colors of the sculpture, tarnished bronze and grey, are bleak, symbolic of the horror that was this accident and the sorrow that was this tragic assault on human life. The bronze statue of the man features a pained facial expression, arms outstretched and fingers curling as he attempts to resist the force of the nuclear disaster. The man is dwarfed by the mushroom cloud surrounding him, symbolizing the sheer scale of this disaster and the potential of nuclear energy/warfare to completely overtake the human race. The man is human-looking for the entirety of the torso, but begins to become less distinct throughout the legs, eventually, as mentioned earlier, devolving into a pile of ash, evoking the idea that this disaster, and unregulated nuclear energy in general, have the potential to reduce man to nothing, turning the human race to ash, or, as the statue of the man appears to resemble, a wisp of smoke. In all, the bleak colors of the sculpture, in tandem with the sheer size of the mushroom cloud and the tortured look of the bronze man, create a piece evocative of suffering, tragedy, and the dangers of man experimenting with nature. The overall message is one of warning: Man is capable of being destroyed by that which he can create.
As mentioned earlier, this piece serves as a memorial to Chernobyl victims past, present, and future. It is one of my favorite pieces of public art, available for all to see in Moscow’s Mitino Cemetery. Although public in the message it contains and in it’s physical presence, “Untitled” evokes very private emotions in the individual viewer. To all who see it, its sheer size is enough to silence even the most irreverent of spectators, giving the individual an eerie feeling of fear, in addition to telling a story and serving as warning. It helps the individual feel united with the tragedy, as if it put a weight on one’s shoulders. Again, although public, this piece evokes very profound feelings and concerns, and although these feelings may be similar from individual to individual, they are nevertheless private feelings, felt directly in the hearts and minds of all who view it.
Chernobyl Decay and Deformed (”Untitled” sculpture featured at end of video clip)
individuals - Diana Duque
In my opinion people can be considered to be art. The way we choose to present ourselves, whether it is through clothing or hairstyles, makeup, tattoos, etc we are expressing ourselves and portraying who we conceive ourselves to be. Although you shouldn’t judge people based on their appearances, at a first glimpse of someone’s style you can obtain an idea of what they’re about or what they like. By wearing certain things which may have meaning or value to us and placing ourselves in public we are allowing others into our private lives, even if it’s a small part of us. Although some people use their apparel to portray someone they’d like to be seen as I think it’s more important to express who you are and how you feel comfortable. Through the use of color and style, people help others to understand how they are feeling or how they feel about themselves. It may be unusual to see oneself as a piece of art but being that art is a form of self-expression, what better way to express yourself than by just being you.
Graffiti - Michelle Pelan
Graffiti is an interesting topic regarding public versus private art. Although the graffiti is made public for all to see, it often has private meanings for the graffiti artist. While is it undeniable that much graffiti constitutes vandalism, in my opinion it is still a form of art. Frequently, graffiti may be used to raise awareness about a social issue or express one’s political beliefs and views. Since it is readily available to the public eye, graffiti can be effective. For example, the graffiti below is pushing for peace. While publicly, the artist may be asserting his or her value of world peace, it may have a more personal, private meaning to him or her.
In addition, some graffiti is actually aesthetically pleasing and is a form of decorative art. Some of these images are even used on T-shirts, for instance. The image of the word “fresh” below may have started out as graffiti, but is now used as an art display on clothing.
Displaying art on clothing is a common form of public art. It is also private, however, because the person wearing the clothing may have a personal connection or relation to the image displayed.
Clearly, graffiti, though controversial, has multiple uses as an art form. In my opinion, it is both public and private art, requiring skill to create and having meaning behind it.
Tattoos- Public Yet Private by Heather Smith
Tattoos are, without a doubt, the clearest example of a private moment mixing with a public message. Those who choose to get a tattoo are making decisions about what private emotions and traits about themselves they wish to make public, and yet, the two messages may be very different. One may understand the public message, but can never truly understand the artist’s private statement.
For example, the above woman is clearly making her personal political beliefs very public. She has taken a strong private opinion and utilized an art form to share it with the world, on the back of her bald head, no less. But, one wonders how this woman will feel about her tattoo when George W. Bush is long gone from the White House. Will she remove the tattoo? Will she simply grow her hair out? Certainly she is very aware of the permanency of a tattoo, which points to the possibility that though the public sees a current political statement, it is possible that she will keep the tattoo well into old age, as a reminder of some personal emotion we may not understand. Long after the public statement is relevant, her personal message of liberalism or rebellion or youthful outrage may live on as a private message we cannot understand.
The girl in the above picture has chosen both a cryptic statement and a secret place to put her message. The possible meaning that this statement has for her is endless- is she making a general comment about feminity or is this based on a specific event? Why is the script so feminine, yet the message so strong? Was the placement near the breast meant to add to the meaning? What about the stars? Yes, while the outward statement for the select public audience seems clear, her private message is so much more complex. And, to add to the complexities of this particular tattoo, one wonders why she chose such a private place for her message (as we would assume only a select group of people are permitted to see her unclothed) and yet this picture somehow wound up online, the most public place one can get.
But the blurred line between public and private art can be expanded to other art forms beside tattoo. Can one ever truly say they know the private message each artist means to express in their work? And for those artists dead and gone, we can only guess at why they chose certain colors, shapes and figures. Essentially, I am asserting that all art is both public and private- the two ideas have never been and never can be separate.
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Cultural Map
"The Original Topography of Manhattan Island from the Battery to 155th Street" From Report on the Social Statistics of Cities, Compiled by George E. Waring, Jr., United States. Census Office, Part I, 1886. (Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas-Austin)
